'Dry shake of our steps'

“The Starry Night’’ (1889), by Vincent Van Gogh

“We walk tonight

in the valley of our bones.

Here no skin is stretched

on hollow wood,

no song except

the dry shake of our steps.’’

— From “The People Cannot Speak,’’ by T. Alan Broughton (1936-2013), American poet and pianist. He taught writing at the University of Vermont in 1966-2001.

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